Sky pinched her lower lip as she stared at Chidiogo. "Should I start with the fact that this new finding is, for a lack of better words, logically inaccurate?"

"How so?"

"You told me that the first time you got attacked, Chikaima showed up to the crime scene while you were being attacked, right?"

Chidiogo bobbed her head.

"And you realize that she couldn't be attacking you and showing up with a flashlight at the same time, right?"

Chidiogo's mouth hung open but no words came out.

"And what reason do you think Chikaima would have to want you dead?"

"I don't really have much to hold on to but she does seem to still have feelings for Justin."

Sky raised a brow at her. "And? If that was the case she would want Mmachi dead and not you."

Or the both of us, Chidiogo thought but didn't dare to voice it out.

She nodded, remembering that Sky didn't know of her feelings for Justin. But she was probably right about Mmachi being the one in danger if Chikaima was so obsessed with Justin to actually take someone's life.

She would only target someone who was a threat and her having feelings for Justin, didn't qualify her as threat. Besides, no one even knew of her feelings to begin with.

"What are you thinking about?"

She snapped out of her thoughts to find Sky waving her hand in front of her face.

"I don't know," she said, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears. "I'm just tired. I don't know what I did to deserve any of this. I thought this place would be better than my old school." She exhaled loudly. "As much as no one wanted me there, at least I didn't have anyone actively trying to kill me."

She covered her face with her hands, mumbling incoherent words. She looked up when she felt Sky's hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will be okay. Have you tried contacting your parents again?"

"Severally! I've given them almost a hundred missed calls since the mid-term break and I still haven't heard from them. It's not like it would make a difference. My mom's convinced that I'm out of my mind. She'd send me straight to therapy or possibly a loony bin if I keep bringing this up. Even my friends think I'm out of my mind," she said, remembering what Paschal and Justin had said in the dining.

She didn't know what hurt more, what they said or the fact that the words came from them.

"I know everything feels pointless right now but you should still try. Maybe send them a text and tell them about your last attack."

"I already did that! And guess what? They still haven't replied!" Chidiogo threw her hands up in frustration before tugging at the strands of hair that fell across her face. She stopped when she managed to rip out a chunk of hair.

Her and Sky stared at the clump of hair in her hand for a moment too long before Sky spoke up, "Woah, calm down. We don't want you going bald now, do we?"

Chidiogo shook her head. "It's just hair, it'll grow back. But I need to be alive first for that to happen."

"You know what? You need to get your mind off everything. Just focus on the competition for now. It's just a week to it and—"

"Excuse me," a small voice came, interrupting Sky and causing Chidiogo's heart to jump out of her body.

A girl emerged from behind one the pillars that constituted the arcades. She was putting on the hostel day wear which Chidiogo found to be strange. The only times when it was compulsory to wear the day wear was on visiting day or when going home and even then, people evaded it.

The girl's small frame was swallowed entirely by the cream color shirt and her army green flayed skirt slipped off her waist every two seconds even though the belt holding it up was fastened to the last hole.

The flayed skirt gave her away as a junior student.

"The hostel mistress wants to see you," she said to Chidiogo who tried her hardest to not stare at her face but ended up failing.

Most parts of the girl's body were extremely dark, almost as dark as Chidiogo's hair. But what Chidiogo focused on were the patches of albino white skin, especially the one which mapped around her nasal, buccal and oral regions, dividing her face into two distinct colors.

"She'll be there in a minute," Sky said when she noticed that Chidiogo wasn't giving a reply.

The girl nodded, turning and running in the opposite direction. Sky hit Chidiogo on the back, a mild pain jolting through her on the impact. She muttered a cuss word which Sky didn't hear.

"What was that for?" Sky asked, oblivious to her pain.

Chidiogo turned to her with raised brows.

"Why were you staring at her like that?" Sky asked.

"I've never seen someone with vitiligo before. That was vitiligo right?"

Sky crossed her arms. "You remember the hostel mistress is waiting for you?"

"Oh, yeah. See you later."

She headed in the same direction as the girl who had called her earlier, looking around too often. When she got to the hostel mistress's door, she knocked just once before she got a response.

She greeted the hostel mistress on entering. Ignoring her greeting, the hostel mistress proceeded to speak.

"It's your birthday today? It's also mine. So we share a birthday?" The pause was long enough for Chidiogo to wonder whether the question was meant to be answered, but short enough to convince her it was rhetorical. "I didn't know. Your parents sent over a couple of gifts for you. I sent some junior students to take them to your room. Of course I expect that you would hand over any item which may be contraband. Your parents also asked me to inform you that they left a message for you. Check your email. That's all for now."

Chidiogo didn't even need the hostel mistress's dismissive wave before she exited the room. She headed straight for her room.

She saw a junior student carrying a handful of designer bags on her way to her room and the girl also seemed to be headed towards the same direction as she was. She wanted to call out to the girl to confirm that she wasn't wrong to think that the gifts the girl carried were meant for her but the girl scurried away before she could.

When she eventually got to the door of her room, she saw the same girl exiting the room. She entered the room to find her bed and the areas surrounding it filled with several gift bags.

"Birthday girl!" Kamsi called the moment she noticed Chidiogo's presence. "Your parents sure do love you a lot."

It was just then that Chidiogo noticed those in the room. Kamsi and Chikaima were both seated on Chikaima's bed. Mmachi and Amelia sat on Mmachi's bed while Amelia's bed was—for the first time—unoccupied by anyone or anything for that matter.

"Finally! You're here!" Amelia exclaimed, bouncing off the bed and in just a couple leaps; was standing next to Chidiogo's bed stand.

If anyone had told Chidiogo that the same Amelia who had given her the cold shoulder the first time she came would be enthusiastic about anything related to her, she wouldn't have believed it.

"Open the gifts let's see what you got!" Amelia said, clapping her hands. She was literally standing on her toes.

"Lia let her change fir—"

"Let's start with this," Amelia said, picking up a Loius Vuitton bag and completely ignoring the fact that Chikaima had been saying something.

She shoved it into Chidiogo's hands before going on to pick another bag. Chidiogo ended up going through a couple bags before she got tired. Even Amelia ditched her after a while, coming up with an excuse before leaving the room. But that was after gushing over the latest iPhone Chidiogo was sent. Coming from someone who was using Huawei Mate X3, it almost sounded like an insult.

"Are all these gifts just for you?" Kamsi asked when Chidiogo took a break from opening the presents. "I mean, surely some of it must be for Mmachi."

For the first time, Chidiogo agreed with Kamsi. Even she would have had the same thoughts if all the gifts weren't tagged with her name. Just then, how messed up the whole situation really was hit her. Her parents couldn't have been that mad at Mmachi to send birthday presents for only her.

"My birthday's not today," Mmachi said, throwing everyone in the room into confusion.

"What do you mean? Aren't you guys supposed to be twins?" Kamsi asked, stating the obvious.

"Chidiogo was born on November twenty-seventh, roughly three minutes before midnight. I was born the next day, a few minutes after midnight. My parents are very particular about that stuff. That's why they don't send me gifts on Chidiogo's birthday, so I don't feel overshadowed by her and neglected on my own birthday."

Chidiogo stared at Mmachi after what she said, her heart breaking for her. The bit about them being born on different days was true but they both knew that wasn't the reason her parents hadn't sent birthday presents for Mmachi.

"But everyone wished you on twenty-seventh even when Chidiogo wasn't here," Chikaima pointed out.

"Yeah, because I decided to go with it right before I got into this school. I could have changed it when I entered here because Chidiogo didn't come along but I was so used to everyone wishing me on her birthday at home, I sometimes forgot that my birthday wasn't on the same day. It was more or less a reflex to say twenty-seventh as my date of birth at that point."

Chikaima nodded while Kamsi just shrugged, the both of them agreeing that it made sense. Mmachi stood up from her bed and stretched a bit before walking towards Chidiogo's direction.

Because Chidiogo was standing near the door, she assumed Mmachi just wanted to exit the room. Her shock when Mmachi stopped in front of her and gave her a hug was unrivalled.

"Happy birthday," Mmachi whispered into her ear before letting her go.

After that, Mmachi stood awkwardly next to the Chidiogo for three minutes before jabbing her thumb in the direction of the door. Her voice came out a bit cracked when she spoke.

"I'm going out to . . ." She trailed off, shook her head and just walked out of the room.

Chidiogo was still reeling in the shock of what happened when Amelia entered the room. She informed Chikaima and Kamsi that the hostel mistress wanted to see the both of them. When they had both left the room, Amelia remained standing in front of Chidiogo's bed.

"Um . . . Diogo, I saw a bouquet of flowers outside on my way in. It was tagged with your name and I think it fell out when those juniors were bringing your presents. Should I help you get it?"

Chidiogo nodded absentmindedly. Amelia disappeared through the doors and reappeared with a bouquet. She had to tap Chidiogo to get her attention. Chidiogo's head jerked in her direction when Amelia tapped her before she saw the bouquet.

Chidiogo's brows furrowed as she stared at the flower. It was a bundle of dark blue delphiniums which, while pretty, were a bit odd to receive as a gift from someone.

"Where did you say you got these from?" Chidiogo asked Amelia, stretching her hands to receive the bouquet.

"Outside. I think someone dropped it when they were bringing your gifts."

Chidiogo hummed, twirling the bouquet around.

Amelia took a deep breath, wringing her fingers. "I also wanted to apologize for what happened in the dinning. Those boys are total idiots. And I totally believe you. You don't need to pay any attention to them. I—"

"It's okay, Lia. I wasn't offended," Chidiogo said, forcing a small smile.

"Are you sure?"

Chidiogo nodded and Amelia grinned.

"Oh and I'm kind of broke now but I sent you an Amazon gift card. I know I suck at birthday gifts but I had to give you something."

Chidiogo put the bouquet down and got up from her bed, enveloping Amelia in a hug. When she broke the hug, Amelia said something about having to meet the hostel mistress before leaving the room.

Chidiogo searched for her phone and checked the gift card Amelia sent. She was surprised to see that it was worth three thousand dollars. If that was what being broke meant, then she wanted to be broke too.

She checked her mail after that, not knowing what to expect. Her throat was almost dry when she opened the message. The message she got was from her mother. It was basically her saying that they were on a business trip and that she had read all her texts.

Her stomach dropped when the only reply her mother gave to her text about being attacked was that they couldn't send Mmachi to juvie without any evidence that she committed any new offence and that she would schedule an appointment for Chidiogo with Dr. Kumar when she got back from her trip.

Although she went on and on about how she didn't doubt what Chidiogo said, it was evident she still thought she was insane. Chidiogo tossed her phone aside in anger. Just then, her eyes landed on the bouquet of blue delphiniums.

This time, specifically on a note she hadn't known was there. She leaned towards it and picked up the note. A plain white paper folded in half with a red heart on it. The familiarity of the pattern left her gut in knots.

Her fingers began to tremble as she opened the note. In the same cursive writing stood the words: Happy death day.

Her heart rate tripled and she could feel the sweat begin to trickle down her neck. She read the letters over and over before dropping the note.

The moment she dropped the note, she started hyperventilating. With each breath she took, it became more difficult to take the next. Her head was spinning by the time she managed to get on her feet. It felt as if something was blocking her throat and whatever it was seemed to only expand, determined to cut off her air supply.

She was wheezing by the time she managed to leave her room. A wave of dizziness hit her and her knees buckled, sending her tumbling to the ground. Using the little energy she could muster, she managed to drag her body on the floor until she got close to a girl who—unaware of what was happening to her—was chatting with her friend outside their room.

Chidiogo stretched her hand to touch the girl's leg but the darkness consumed her faster than she could reach the girl.

A/N: OMO, I HAVEN'T BEEN HERE IN SUCH A LONG TIME, I THINK I NEED SOME TIME TO GET USED TO WHAT'S HAPPENING . THIS ISN'T EDITED YET. I JUST WANTED TO GET SOMETHING OUT BEFORE I FELL ASLEEP. FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ANY ERROR YOU NOTICE AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE.❤️✨

AND CHEERS TO 3K READS🥂